HOW TO BEAR WITNESS TO OUR FAITH LIKE THE MACCABEAN MARTYRS
Dear Friend,
Last Sunday, in Jesus’ encounter with Zacchaeus, we saw how to repent efficiently by making: a perfect contrition, a firm resolution and reparation 4X over. Having experienced our conversion, we are called today to bear witness to the Lord and His laws. Today, I would like us to meditate on how we can bear witness like the Maccabean Martyrs: “One of the brothers, speaking for the others, said: ‘What do you expect to achieve by questioning us? We are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors… but the King of the world will raise us up to live again forever. It is for his laws that we are dying.” From this response, I would like to suggest that to bear witness to our faith which is our responsibility as disciples is to: 1) Be witnesses of the truth we proclaim; 2) Do it for the glory of God; and 3) Have the courage to bear witness.
1) Be Witnesses of the Truth we Proclaim
The Maccabean martyrs were willing to lay down their lives for the laws of God, for the temple, and religious liberty at a time when King Antiochus in the second century BC was bent on Hellenizing the Jews. The response, “We are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors,” is a response of gratitude for that which has been received and cherished. It is the response of one who had seen the beauty and the power of God’s laws handed down throughout the ages. God’s laws are inscribed in nature, imbedded in our conscience, revealed in the Bible and given to us in the Church. While the laws of man can be modified, the laws of God cannot be changed. Canon Law can be changed, but never the ten commandments! They are established, and written on stone once and for all for the glory of God, and for our sanctification and salvation. The question remains: How do we become witnesses of the truth / laws of God we are called to bear witness to? God’s laws are revealed to us in His Holy Word. It’s only by meditating on His word, that we too can claim that we bear witness to what we have seen. Faith is the means by which we appreciate with certitude God’s laws for us. A constant phrase like a refrain in the life of St. Bernadette when she was being questioned about the apparition in Lourdes was: “Oh, if he doesn’t want to believe, he doesn’t have to believe. I ran my errand. I say only what I saw.” What have we seen in God’s Word, in our experiences in life about the love, mercy, goodness, the truth of God that no one can tell us otherwise? These we have to bear witness to for the glory of God and the good of our fellow man.
2) Bearing Witness for the Glory of God
God permits us to experience various attributes of Himself and so become witnesses of these for His glory. For instance, he permits some to experience more of his mercy; others, more of his justice; others, more of His providence. Whatever attribute of God you have come to experience Him, you are called to bear witness to that attribute for His glory.
By bearing witness to the laws of God with their lives, the martyrs were at the same time defending the glory of God who established these laws. It is God’s world. In standing for God, they were convinced that God will vindicate them if not in this life, in the life to come. To bear witness for the glory of God is to look forward to His reward and no other. This was what gave the Maccabean martyrs the courage to lay down their lives – the sure promise of eternal life to come. One of them about to be mutilated to death maintained: “It was from Heaven that I received these; for the sake of his laws I disdain them; from him I hope to receive them again.” The fullness of our hope in eternal life comes from Jesus Himself who in the Gospel reminds us: “That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when He called out, ‘Lord,’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”
3) Bearing Witness with Courage
In the second reading, St. Paul reminds us that our courage comes from the love of Jesus shown to us by His death and Resurrection, and so he prays that we may be ever encouraged as we do His will: “May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement and good hope through his grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good deed and word.” If death is our greatest fear, what could be more liberating than to be unafraid of death! Our ability to be unafraid of death comes from our hope in the resurrection. In the Gospel, Jesus assures us that children of God can no longer die, for they are like angels. What gave the martyrs courage, than the unfailing promise of heaven! What are some of the truths we are called to courageously bear witness to this week:
- It is national vocations week. I just want to encourage any young men or women among us who are feeling drawn to the priesthood or religious life not to be afraid to give it try. Our yes to Jesus only opens up more doors. A Mass for discernment shall be offered in the Cathedral on Saturday the 12 th at 10:00 am with over 20 religious orders present. You are neither too young like a John, or too old like a Peter to be called by the Lord. Courageously bear witness to that inner feeling. Take it to prayer, talk about it with someone you trust, and then courageously make the leap of faith.
- It’s the week of elections. From Scriptures to the Catechism, we have been taught what is true and good for our salvation. From nature to our conscience, God’s voice continually murmurs in our hearts what is in accordance with His will. Let your votes be informed by your faith and be a testament of what you have seen and believed.
- It’s the month of November, the month for the dead. Let your fervent prayers and Masses offered for the dead be an expression of your firm faith in the Resurrection of the Body, God’s mercy, and the Church’s teaching on purgatory.
- We live in a world that is trying to secularize everything from celebrating the
Eve of All Saints without the saints and martyrs Halloween, to celebrating Christmas without Christ in the name of “Happy Holidays.” May we never be ashamed to bear witness to Christ in a secularized world.
- In a time when some Catholics do not believe in the fundamental teachings of the Church handed to us from Christ and the Apostles, but prefer to believe only what is convenient for them; in such a time of a crisis of faith when even the sacrament of sacraments, the source and summit of our faith, the Eucharist, is doubted by many, we are called to stand up for the faith of our fathers who risked their lives to celebrate Mass in the catacombs at the price of death.
May Jesus Christ, who saw His death and resurrection, as the price for our redemption grant us everlasting encouragement as we receive Him in Communion today, never to be afraid to stand up for the truth, knowing that whenever we do so, we are standing up with Him and for Him, the Truth.